Robert Wise's drama begins with a plane crash in California that leaves a five-year-old boy the sole survivor, the adopted son of the dead pilot and his wife. As he hovers between life and death, three women gather, awaiting the news that will confirm his true identity, each of them possibly his birth mother. Susan Chase gave up her illegitimate son, Ann Lawrence gave up her child when sentenced to a prison term and Phyllis Horn chose her career ahead of motherhood. As the hours pass each of them, in flashback, tells their own story on why they decided to abandon their child.